Innovate or Die
Organizations cycle between exploration and exploitation. An exploration-oriented organization is full of innovation and creativity. It’s bursting with ideas, even if short on cash. Once an idea has manifested into…
Innovation Posts
Understand the Power of the Question to Drive Innovation
Asking "Why," "What If," and "How" is a powerful way to drive innovation, empower entrepreneurs, and create needed solutions.
A Night at the Museum: Using Art to Spark Creative Thinking
Public discourse in recent years has revolved around the question of creativity: how to foster it, how to harness it, and whether our society suffers a critical lack of it…
Moving Electricity: Sometimes, Innovation Isn’t Enough
An old friend named Tim stopped by the office recently to talk about innovation in the electrical utility industry in the United States. Tim has spent 45 years in the…
Innovation Starts With Ideas and Ends With Execution
Most people think innovation is all about ideas, when in fact it is more about delivery, people, and process. Entrepreneurs looking to innovate need to understand the execution challenge if…
How To Think Big and Act Bold
What sparks paradigm-shifting innovation in any business? It’s a special mix of entrepreneur and company, regular in every respect except for having the courage and foresight to make an idea…
Lean Startups and the Art of the Pivot
The popular view of a real entrepreneur is someone with a big vision, and a stubborn determination to charge straight ahead through any obstacle and make it happen. The vision…
Strategies for Conquering Chaos in Your Startup
Every startup founder I know talks about the chaos of their business, which they usually attribute to that burst of growth that is required to get to positive cash flow…
The Software Patent Problem
I always advise software startups to file patents to protect their “secret sauce” from competitors, and to increase their valuation. The good news is that a patent can scare off…
Cultivate a Culture of Innovation in your Startup
Entrepreneurs are usually highly creative and innovative, but many innovative people are not entrepreneurs. Since it takes a team of people to build a great company, the challenge is…